Summary

Ethiopia has launched a major military offensive in Tigray according to unconfirmed reports from rebels in the northern region.

The operation, which is said to involve air and ground attacks across a broad front, comes just two years removed from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed winning the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts to foster peaceful reconciliation among Ethiopia’s diverse peoples and achieve a long-term peace with neighboring Eritrea. The interim has not been kind to Abiy’s reputation as a peacemaker: Tigray has been wracked by intense fighting, ‘clear war crimes,’ and forced migration, some of which was perpetrated by Ethiopia’s erstwhile enemy, Eritrea.